Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars/Celebrity Special
The Celebrity Special (or Celebrity Robot Wars) was an event held during the Christmas Specials of Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars. This tournament featured eight teams, each of which was paired off with a celebrity captain for the competition. The robots fought in a straight knock-out tournament to determine the champion. The Celebrity Special was originally broadcast on December 27, 2000 on BBC One, the only episode of Robot Wars to air on this channel. According to BARB, it ranked outside the top thirty highest rated BBC One broadcasts during 25-31 December. As a celebrity special, the rules dictated that a celebrity driver had to control their machine for sixty seconds before they could then hand the controls over to the roboteers. The format of the Celebrity Special would later be succeeded by Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, as part of Series 9. Competing robots & celebrities Eliminators Vic Reeves & Diotoir vs Shauna Lowry & Wild Thing Wild Thing was decorated with a photo of Shauna Lowry and wig on its wedge, along with numerous toy rabbits on its lifting arm and lottery balls attached to the top. Diotoir was was fitted with a pair of oversized glasses paying homage to those worn by Reeves, a set of rubber buttocks attached to the rear and a novelty frying pan attached to the lifter, which Ciarán Byrne jokingly claimed was intended to throw pancakes at opponents. Before the fight, Vic Reeves had allegedly cut the head off of one of the rabbits on Wild Thing's arm and put it in the aforementioned frying pan. At the beginning, Diotoir fired its weapon, causing the frying pan to fly off. Wild Thing attacked Diotoir from behind and pushed at an angle, causing Diotoir to spin as Wild Thing pushed it. Diotoir drove over a flame jet and caught fire, then Wild Thing battered into it. Sergeant Bash torched Diotoir, adding to the damage caused by the flame jet before. Wild Thing pushed the burning robot towards the side wall, but Diotoir got behind Wild Thing and tried to flip it, but missed. Diotoir limped away, the giant comical glasses falling off, but was attacked by Wild Thing again. Wild Thing pushed Diotoir back and impaled it with the front lance, slamming it into Sergeant Bash. The robots circled each other, but Wild Thing ran into Sergeant Bash, giving Diotor a chance, but Diotoir failed to take it. Diotoir forced Wild Thing into the side wall and tried to flip it, but missed again. Sergeant Bash roasted the rabbits aboard the arm of Wild Thing, as Shauna gave the controls to Nick Adams. This made no difference however, because Wild Thing was motionless, so Matilda rammed and lifted it. Diotoir was scorched by Sergeant Bash again, when suddenly Wild Thing burst back to life and attacked Diotoir. Wild Thing was quickly grabbed by Sir Killalot, who span it around before pitting it. Winner: Vic Reeves & Diotoir Chris Eubank & Killertron vs The Turner Sisters & Gemini Gemini was decorated with wigs and eyes placed on top of the clusterbots, whilst Killertron had a boxing glove over the axe and was repainted black and red. One of the Gemini twins sped out towards Killertron, then veered away as Killertron swung the axe. Killertron missed, then was attacked again. Killertron swung the axe again, this time landing a blow. One of the twins managed a flip, but Killertron was kept upright by one of the side mounted boxing gloves. The boxing glove came crashing down onto Gemini, but the other half came in and flicked Killertron onto a flame jet. Gemini backed off, then one of the twins sped out to attack Killertron. In an attempt to defend itself, Killertron swung its axe, but Gemini was too quick and rammed and lifted it before the axe could do any damage. The same happened again, but this time the twin fell forwards. Gemini was stuck on its side, but Matilda helped it down and then went on to unfairly flip Killertron over. Matilda came back to right Killertron, but Killertron was flipped on its back end by a twin. Killertron got back down, but the boxing glove was roasted on a flame jet as it came down. One of the Gemini twins attacked it again, pushing Killertron onto its side, before levering it back down. Matilda shredded the boxing glove, but then a Gemini twin flipped her over. Sir Killalot righted Matilda, as cease was called. It was an easy decision for the judges, who voted Gemini through. Winner: The Turner sisters & Gemini Shane Lynch & Sir Chromalot vs Five & Disc-O-Inferno Disc-O-Inferno had little decoration added to it, compared to the other robots in the episode, with only Five logos being added to the top and sides. Sir Chromalot had a chrome blanket wrapped around the self-righting mechanism, and toy cars placed on top of the body, due to driver Shane Lynch being a professional drift driver. The match started with the two robots dodging each other, before coming together. Disc-O-Inferno skimmed off the arena wall a couple of times, as Sir Chromalot made a side-on attack with its drill and spike. Disc-O-Inferno then drove across to the opposite end of the arena, whilst trying to bring the flywheel up to speed. Sir Chromolot closely followed, and Disco-O-Inferno turned round to face it head-on, slamming with the disc, which stopped upon impact. Disco-O-Inferno attempted some rear pushing, before it started cutting out and strayed too close to Sergeant Bash's CPZ, where the house robot was free to attack. Meanwhile, Sir Chromalot tried to push its troubled opponent back toward the side wall, but drove itself onto the flame pit at the same time, incinerating the decoration. Sir Chromolot got torched more from Sergeant Bash, but it managed to escape; however the same couldn't be said for Disc-O-Inferno, which had officially broken down after it bounced of an arena wall spike, and was attacked by Dead Metal. Sir Chromolot held back awhile before it helped Dead Metal position Disco-O-Inferno onto the floor flipper, and it was thrown into the air, landing almost perfectly on its back. Sir Killalot then picked up Disc-O-Inferno and performed his 'spin trick' on it, before Disc-O-Inferno was dumped into the pit. Winner: Shane Lynch & Sir Chromalot Adam Woodyatt & Pussycat vs Natalie Cassidy & Iron-Awe Pussycat was decorated with a large map of London and bag of fish & chips, in reference to EastEnders, which both of the celebrities were stars in, and the fish and chip shop that Woodyatt's character, Ian Beale, owned in the show at the time. Iron-Awe was garbed in 'L' plates, due to Natalie Cassidy's inexperience with the controls, and in reference to her taking driving tests at the time of filming. As the robots were preparing to go into the arena, Iron-Awe's front wheels jammed, and consequently had to be quickly repaired by Robert and Gilbert Grimm. Luckily, the robot took to the arena without any noticeable hindrance to the controls. The two robots both started slowly, Iron-Awe firing a wildly off-target axe blow, before Pussycat attacked with the blade, and pushed Iron-Awe back a few feet. Iron-Awe whacked Pussycat with the axe just as Pussycat flipped and wheeled away, and Cassidy soon passed the controls on to Robert Grimm. Seconds later, Pussycat had Iron-Awe blocked against the arena wall, and the NAT 1 license plate attached to Iron-Awe was shattered after a strong charge from Pussycat and its blade made contact, much to Cassidy's dismay. Iron-Awe seemed sluggish after this, and Dead Metal pounced. Iron-Awe spurted briefly back to life, but was overturned by a combined attack from Sir Killalot's arm and a charge from Pussycat. The House Robots then shoved Iron-Awe onto the flame pit, where a message, 'It's not all over till its over', was revealed. Sir Killalot then snapped off the axe. Sergeant Bash then pushed Iron-Awe into Sir Killalot, who plucked it up and pitted it. After the battle, it was revealed that Iron-Awe's battery ran out, and that Pussycat hadn't had its disc connected. Natalie Cassidy went to join her EastEnders co-star on the Pussycat team. Winner: Adam Woodyatt & Pussycat Semi-Finals Gemini vs Diotoir Diotor cornered one of the Gemini halves as it separated, getting underneath and trying to flip it while weathering an attack from Sergeant Bash and losing both its glasses and frying pan. Diotoir hesitated as flames spread along its front fur, before driving alongside and being flipped over by one half of Gemini. It landed on the other half, which swiftly re-righted Diotoir, with both halves of Gemini proceeding to flip Diotoir over twice more. Diotoir was attacked by Sergeant Bash again, with one half of Gemini flipping it against the House Robot at one point. Diotor drove towards Matilda, but turned away, before again getting underneath one half of Gemini and flicked it over, and the latter righting itself. Almost immediately after, one half of Gemini became immobilised due to radio issues, with Diotoir pushing the other half back across the arena towards an empty CPZ. With both halves immobile, Diotoir was then cornered against the wall by Sergeant Bash, but despite attacking it, the House Robot did not set it on fire. Diotoir spent the rest of the battle avoiding the other House Robots and waiting in a CPZ as both halves of Gemini were attacked, flipped and pitted, progressing to the final as a result. Winner: Diotoir Pussycat vs Sir Chromalot Pussycat attacked Sir Chromalot, which had some more chrome added onto the srimech. Pussycat's first attack merely scratched the paintwork, the second causing sparks. Sir Chromolot could only put it weapons to limited use as Pussycat continued to attack with the blade, spinning around Sir Chromalot, before Woodyatt handed over the controls to David Gribble. Pussycat attacked the chrome on the top of Sir Chromalot, as well as snapping off its drill for good measure. By now Sir Chromolot had stopped moving, and Pussycat pushed it onto the flame pit, whilst Matilda lurked. Sir Chromalot seemed only capable of slow, infrequent movements forward and backwards. Matilda came in, and flicked Sir Chromalot with her tusks, just failing to tip it over. Sir Killalot eventually tipped the stricken Sir Chromalot over. Sir Killalot then damaged Sir Chromalot's self-righting mechanism, then pushed it onto the flipper, where it was thrown to the other side of the arena. Killalot then picked up Sir Chromalot and pitted it. Winner: Pussycat Final Pussycat vs Diotoir Pussycat immediately attacked Diotoir, ripping some of the fur off, whilst Diotoir fired the flipper, once again knocking off the frying pan. After a couple more attacks, some fur became wedged in Pussycat's blade, stopping the weapon. Pussycat then pushed against Diotoir, which dislodged the comedy glasses. Pussycat then ran over to the flame pit, in an attempt to burn off the impeding fur. Meanwhile, Diotoir, having caught fire again, was attacked by Dead Metal and Shunt. Pussycat, having failed to restart the disc, pushed against Diotoir, who was immobilised. The House Robots then attacked, causing visible damage to Diotoir. Killalot then pushed Diotoir onto the flipper, which fired, and Diotoir landed upside down. Killalot then dumped Diotoir near the pit, and Shunt backed it in. Celebrity Special Champion: Pussycat (Adam Woodyatt & Natalie Cassidy) Trivia *Ironically, finalists Pussycat and Diotoir would eventually become Tag Team Terror partners, winning the latter tournament in the first series of Extreme. *This was the only episode of Robot Wars to be broadcast on BBC One. (Although a rerun of the First Wars had been previously aired on the same channel, during the Spring of 1999.) *For the duration of the episode, Jonathan Pearce referred to the Floor Flipper as the Evil Ejector, and the Flame Pit as the Flames of Fury, instead of their usual names. *With the exception of Killertron, all of the defeated robots in this episode were pitted. *This was the only episode that was not featured as a part of the Robot Wars: Grand Champions version of the Fourth Wars. Category:The Fourth Wars Category:Celebrity Specials